Louis Armstrong

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Louis Armstrong

• Americas Musical Ambassador

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• Louis Armstrong was born on August 4th, 1901, in
  New Orleans, Louisiana.

His father, William Armstrong, abandoned the
family while Louis was still an infant. He spent
the first years of his life living with his
Grandmother. At age 5 he moved into a house with
his mother and sister, whom he called Mama Lucy.
They were incredibly poor.
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A local Russian-Jewish Family, the Kamofskys,
hired Louis to work on their junk wagon. He used
the money he made to buy his first cornet.
This is the actual cornet Armstrong owned as a
boy. It is valued by Sothebys auction house to
be worth 80,000 to 100,000!
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• On New Years Eve, 1912, Louis fired a pistol to
  celebrate New Years. A nearby policeman arrested
  Louis and the next day he was confined to the
  Colored Waif's Home for Boys.

• While in the Waif's Home, Louis received his
  first cornet lessons from the band director. He
  was 12 years old.
• Thats him in the center.

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Eventually, Louis would lead the band at the
Waifs Home.
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Released from the Waifs Home, Armstrong returned
to live with his mother. Joe Oliver, one of the
finest trumpet players in New Orleans, became
Louis's teacher and mentor. At night he started
performing with local groups. In the daytime, he
would deliver coal and sell newspapers to help
feed himself, his mother, and his sister.
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In 1918 Joe King Oliver moved to Chicago
but Louis stayed in New Orleans and became the
lead trumpet player in the Kid Ory band, one of
the most popular groups in the city.
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• A few years later, King Oliver asked Louis to
  come to Chicago to join his new group, King
  Olivers Creole Jazz Band.

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The style of this band featured a lot of
improvising, and it suited Louis well.
King Oliver was a big influence on him, but as he
was getting older, he was ready to start his own
band.
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Armstrong moved to New York, and started his own
band, the Hot Five. With this group, he recorded
many of his earliest hits, including West End
Blues.
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Despite racial barriers, Louis became more and
more famous as he continued to record, and began
to work in film as well. Audiences were amazed
when he hit dozens of high B-flats followed by a
high G while playing a bandleader in the movie
Pennies from Heaven starring Bing Crosby.
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His easygoing style, polite charm, and his
comical features made him easy for people to like.
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Here he displays his trademark grin for which he
is so famous.
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Throughout the 50s and 60s, Louis Armstrong
toured and performed all over the world. He had
become Americas musical Ambassador.
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Due to his big grin and small stature as a boy,
Louis Armstrong had many nicknames. Among them
were Gatemouth, Dippermouth, Little Dipper,
Little Louie, and Satchelmouth (which a reporter
mispronounced). When Louis arrived in England in
1932 he was met by Percy Brooks, the editor of
Melody Maker magazine, and in Louis own words
"that morning when I got off the boat and he
shook my hand and said to me 'HELLO SATCHMO'. I
had never heard that name before." Armstrong
liked the sound of it, and adopted it as his
nickname!
Satchmo?
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While in Paris in 1960, Satchmo said, you can
take the boy out of New Orleans, but you cant
take New Orleans out of the boy!
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By the early 60s, Louis Armstrong was a
household name. Most had grown up listening to
his magnificent trumpet playing, and he was
equally well known for his raspy, grand-fatherly
voice. Here is an example of Scat-singing, which
he made popular. How is scat singing different
from regular singing?
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Louis setting trends? You are all familiar with
rap, but before 1980, it couldnt be found
anywhere. In this video from the 1930s, Louis
busts out a rap 50 years before it would become
popular.
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In 1964, at age 63, he recorded the theme song to
the Broadway musical Hello Dolly!
It rocketed to the top of the charts, even
knocking off guess who?
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You guessed it! The Fab Four themselves saw
their latest hit, Love Me Do fall off the top
of the list when Hello Dolly was released.
They dont seem too happy about it, do they?
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Louis took home a Grammy for his performance on
Hello Dolly!, making him the oldest person to
ever have a number one hit on the Billboard
charts.
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Louis Armstrong loved Children, and in the 1960s
he recorded a series of Disney favorites called
Disney Songs the Satchmo Way.
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Satchmo wasnt done just yet, however.
In 1968 he recorded What a Wonderful World. This
song would become a hit in America and in Europe,
and again hit the charts when it was used for the
soundtrack to the movie Good Morning Vietnam,
starring Robin Williams.
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From 1969-1971 Louis Armstrong made numerous
television appearances, traveled to London to
record the soundtrack to the James Bond film On
Her Majestys Secret Service, and also recorded
the poem Twas the Night before Christmas.
He passed away quietly in his sleep on July 6,
1971.
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Louis Armstrong represented the very best in
entertainers. Part performer, part comedian, and
completely genuine. In a stadium of thousands,
his gentle demeanor could make you feel like he
was playing every song just for you.
Louis Armstrong also represented the very best in
Amercian Ideals He broke racial, social, and
cultural barriers. His music was and is loved by
children, grandparents, and all those in
between. He was Americas first black superstar,
and he truly was an Ambassador of America.
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Louis Armstrong
Watch the video to What a Wonderful World
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(No Transcript)
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Louis Armstrong Americas Musical Ambassador

• Listening
• Hello Dolly! (Click to start)

• West End Blues (Click to start)
• Review for Ragtime, Blues, Jazz Test next class

If time Multicultural Band 30 yrs early